Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

DraftFCB was told it had won the Vodafone account on Friday afternoon. And as if that wasn't enough good news for one day, it also won the Grand Prix at the RSVP and Nexus Awards that night for the Electricity Authority's What's My Number? campaign.

Greedy old DraftFCB, which became the first ever agency to win both the RSVP and the Supreme Nexus Awards last year with The Journal, has dominated the awards scene of late and, as well as the big one, What's My Number, which we are more than likely to see a lot more of on stage this year after it was credited with influencing interest and inflation rates, also took home an RSVP gold and bronze and an RSVP Craft award. The agency also won two more RSVP Craft awards for Unicef's Say No to Naff and Genesis Energy's Win a Fence, as well as an RSVP bronze.

Ogilvy took golds for Kiwibank Green ops and Waitakere City Council's 'Boy Racer', as well as a silver and three bronzes; Colenso BBDO/Aim Proximity picked up two golds and three Craft awards for Pedigree's Doggelganger, Mountain Dew Skate Pinball and Beautify Your City; justONE picked up two golds for Farmers Club and Subway's Subcard App, as well as a silver and three bronzes; and .99 won two golds and a silver with Air New Zealand.

DDB Group Rapp Tribal NZ for ANZ, Barnes, Catmur & Friends for the ASA, Jericho for Advintage, BNZ and Vodafone New Zealand also took home golds, while JWT for Z, Twenty for BMW, DDB/Rapp Tribal for Steinlager and Telecom, AIM Proximity for Toyota, bcg2 for Lion all took home silvers.

AUT students Lucy Morgan and Tabitha Coleman took out the New Zealand Post Student Marketer of the Year.

"Perhaps controversially, the Nexus Supreme was not awarded this year," says Sue McCarty, chief executive at the Marketing Association. "Whilst the judges were full of praise for the finalists and winners of the Nexus categories, they did not feel the benchmark for the Supreme award was met this year, reinforcing the fact that the big awards are about reaching a standard of response-driven marketing rather than being the best that particular year."

Also controversially, a dancing flash mob descended on the Langham to finish proceedings off. And, as everyone knows, nothing says insights-driven marketing like Debra Hall, other members of the MA and a dance troupe cutting shapes to LMFAO's 'sexy and I know it'.

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On Monday, Whittaker’s launched its latest novelty chocolate-lolly mash up with a chocolatey answer to retro bakesale treat coconut ice. The Coconut Ice Surprise chocolate has a twist though, 20c from each block goes to Plunket – a charity which New Zealanders agree is a worthy cause. However, to relate the chocolate to the charity, Whittaker's has built the campaign around baby gender reveal parties, causing a backlash from the public who argue gender norms have expanded beyond blue for boys and pink for girls.

Genius From Elsewhere

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With over 10,000 fires occuring in South Korea residential homes every year, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has created a flower vase that doubles as a throwable fire extinguisher. The hope is it will raise awareness to the public safety issue of home fire safety.

2

Advertisers have stopped buying ads on YouTube after their ads appeared on children's videos where pedophiles had infiltrated the comment section.The New York Times investigates the comments.

3

The internet has been up in arms about a supposed 'Anti-LGBT' emoji, featuring a rainbow flag alongside the "no" symbol. However, according to Time, the emoji causing offence is actually "an unfortunate implementation of the standards that govern how text is displayed on our device".

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This year, Super Bowl audiences were treated to a 45-second video of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper. It was certainly a campaign unlike any before, but did it work? Adweek takes a look.

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As of 1 March, Queenslanders will be able to include one of five emojis alongside their licence places. The options—the laughing-crying face, the winking face, the sunglasses face, the heart-eyed face, or the classic smiley face—are courtesy of Personalised Plates Queensland.

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Why we like it: Infomercial-style ads take us right back to the glorious days of old when we were sick – but not too sick – home from school and got the sought-after opportunity to watch daytime TV. There was literally nothing greater in an eight-year-old's life. So for that reason, these ads get a big tick from us. There's humour, and, despite what often happens when radio hosts venture into a visual format, it doesn't miss the mark.

Who's it for: House of Travel by the in-house team

Why we like it: Who doesn't love when brands bring back a break-out star from one of their earlier campaigns? To be completely honest, we didn't recognise Lucy on first glance, but after a quick trip down memory lane, we placed her as Miss Lucy from that singing and dancing retro campaign House of Travel launched more than a decade ago. We like the continuity of this ad and watching a man choke on his drink after a snapback from a woman doesn't hurt either.

Who's it for: Joblist by Badger Communications

Why we like it: Sonia is a dead-set hero. We are introduced to her glamorous, visor-wearing face peering out from behind a freshly-levelled hedge and the next thing we know she's no ordinary arborist. We watch Sonia as she looks into that shrub's soul and reveals the schnauzer-shaped masterpiece of her own creation. We never knew we needed someone with Sonia's skill set in our lives, but now we know we do. Thank you Sonia for showing us the light.